Are you saying the way we should build this team is to come in dead last in the league? How many years should we do that for? I do not remember Detroit having the #1 pick for all their championships. Or the Devils. We won the cup with Mess, Leetch and Richter. There are just as many teams that have had the #1 pick without a cup as with one. Maybe more. The Isles have had at least 2 number one picks that I can think of. So has Atlanta. Come to think of it Rick Nash was a number 1 pick.

If people on this board knows the surefire way to build a championship why are we on these boards and not NHL GMs? I'm all for building through the draft but no team builds solely through the draft. There are not superstar players in every draft. You dont want to be a horrible team as a goal. Some draft years are totally bare. Championship teams and horrible teams build through the draft. Championship teams and horrible teams also make trades.

I'm just pointing out why those teams that you mentioned might not have developed already with their high end picks. Chicago, Pittsburgh are teams that have reaped the benefits of being some of the worst teams in the league. They are big market teams with a lot of money to throw around, which lets them supplement their high, can't miss draft picks with UFAs. It also helps them keep them. You keep bringing up those teams that are not big markets with infinite amounts of money to spend. Chicago had great depth (Shaw,Saad,ext) but doesn't win either cup without Kane/Toews. Pittsburgh wouldn't have won without Crosby/Malkin.

People love to bring up Detroit and the Devils, but really they are the exception that proves the rule. How have the Devils looked lately? They've haven't been the same franchise they were since before Lockout II. Scott Neidermeyer was drafted 3rd overall. That guy didn't help them win cups? The Devils were bad for a very long time when they first came into the league. Draft a generational talent, greatest goalie of all time, 20th overall. Detroit, the same way, drafted one of the greatest Defenseman of all time. You act as if they do that every year. Steve Yzerman was drafted number 3 overall. They took chances on Russians that nobody else would. Datsyuk and Zetterberg were amazing picks late in the draft. We have one of those too. How many 7th round pick superstars are in this league? Not many. Detroit stunk in the 80s.